Fasteners in seemingly endless varieties exist to attach one object to another. It is often desirable to effect a temporary connection between, for instance, separate pieces of fabric or leather having grommets, or between a tarpaulin and a truck bed. This connection may be effected by a temporary fastener, a permanent fastener having pieces affixed to each object to be joined, or by passing the fastener through the objects to be joined and into a substrate. The fastener can be used to form a one-time connection or be repeatedly engaged and disengaged.
Unfortunately, the need for permanent fasteners requires forethought and anticipation of a specific application. Additionally, permanent fasteners are exceedingly difficult to replace if defective or broken in use. A temporary fastener is a versatile alternative to the permanent fastener. The classic temporary, add-on fastener, a threaded bolt, nut, and washer, is easily replaced and provides a more secure attachment than a snap fastener for example, which is prone to "popping apart" under stress. However, nuts, washers, and bolts are easy to misplace when separated, and are relatively tedious and slow to connect. While add-on or aftermarket fasteners have a flexibility of use advantage over permanent fasteners, the features which make pieces of the fasteners easily securable to each item to be joined also make the pieces easy to lose, especially when the items are disconnected from each other.
An example of a specialized temporary fastener is U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,704 to Acker which teaches a snap fastener that uses a specialized grommet to attach layers of fabric to each other. However, in use, the pieces of the Acker device would be easily misplaced. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,011,356 to Fernandez; 4,874,276 to Iguchi; 4,375,342 to Wollar et al.; and 4,276,806 to Morel each depict two-piece fasteners wherein a first fastening piece is anchored to a first object and is matable with a second fastening piece that secures a second object to the first object, but is not itself anchored to the second object in a manner that will prevent its disengagement or loss when the fastener is in a disengaged state.
Of the seemingly endless varieties of fasteners, there is no single fastener or combination of fasteners which simply and reliable join a plurality of annular members, such as eyelets, grommets or the like to one another. Further, the fastener art lacks fasteners that can be securely affixed to the members to be joined so that objects attached to the members can be connected and disconnected repeatedly without losing one or both of the fastening pieces.